INSIDE PASSAGE TO ALASKA

May 29 - Left Ganges and traveled through Dodd Narrows at high slack. We passed our old Nordhavn 40, KIVA! She is now called Autumn Fisher. We hope to meet them further up on this trip. We anchored at Boho off Lasquat Island. Nice anchorage.

May 30 - Anchored at Gorge Harbor. We visited here four years ago and had great memories from our time there with Alex and Deb Haase (Kellie Anne). We had dinner with John and Linda at the Floathouse (great food and reasonable prices) and breakfast at Trude's Cafe the next morning. Always a great stop.

May 31 - Departed Gorge Harbor and went through Dent Rapids. We timed it perfectly to go through at high slack, although there was still turbulent waters and whirlpools. There was no question of safety but interesting to feel the strength of the tidal water. We anchored at Chamalean Bay near Johnston Straights. This was the nicest day we've had so far and got some great scenery photos.

June 1 - Headed North in Johnston Straights where Bear and Eric saw a pod of Orcas. We anchored at Blunden Harbor, the east side of Char. Sts.

June 2 - Departed Blunden Harbor on a calm, cloudy morning. We passed Cape Caution (that we now call Cape Pussycat because of Margo Wood's presentation at Trawlerfest and, now, our experience) with no difficulty. We had following winds/seas and only saw slight white caps around the point. As soon as we were passed the jutting rock, the seas smoothed again. We timed it just right. By two o'clock we were anchored at Phillips Inlet. It was a narrow entry but very beautiful and we journeyed as far up the inlet as possible. Seabird was an hour behind us. They had trouble in the inlet and ended up grounded on a rock in a falling tide. By 5 pm, they were fully exposed and were forced to lie at an angle until the tide came back up - about 10:30 pm. John was embarrassed for having run aground. But that can easily happen to anyone!

June 3 - We tied up at Shearwater, BC today for a couple of nights. There really isn't a "town" here but there are many amenities right at the head of the dock: boatyard, restaurant, pub, grocery store, marine store, laundry, gym, hair stylist, gift shop, and hotel. The people here are friendly and Bear has found some kids to play with. There is a K-7 school here - it has twelve total students, one kindergartener (Aleah) who Bear became friends with. There is also a small airport and two helipads. For such a small community, it's fairly active. When I asked about where to go for a run, I was warned that there was a grizzly bear spotted on the island just a week ago. I bought bear spray and an air horn to carry with me as I ran. Seabird is having some welding done this afternoon so we all decided to stay for another night. (Barack Obama won the nomination for the decmocractic nomination! It was on CNN at the restaurant as we dined. Eric and I were so excited!)

June 4 - We took the water taxi across the channel to the town of Bella Bella (the town so beautiful they had to name it twice). Bella Bella is a "First Nation" community - the equivalent of an Indian reservation in the states. When we asked the water taxi driver what we should do/see while there, he smirked. He said there was a funeral that day for the eldest member of the tribe (94 years old) and everything was closed in his honor. It just so happened that as the taxi docked, the funeral procession was about to embark onto the dock so they asked the taxi to unload quickly. We walked up the dock to see a two block long procession coming toward us. It began with two people carrying a huge cross followed by the elders in native dress surrounding the elegant casket. Everyone was silent with respect as they carried the casket down to a barge that was draped in a white canopy. The scene was serene, ethnic and celebratory all at the same time. The rest of the town was, to be honest, bleak. We returned on the next hourly taxi to Shearwater, glad we had gone but saw no need to return.

June 5 - The next rainy morning we departed early. I had been wanting to "captain" to practice and keep my training current so I launched us. But after getting up so early, I went back to bed for a couple of hours. I supposedly missed a beautiful part of the trip, but can't comment on it. We anchored in Bottleneck Inlet which was a narrow channel reminiscent of Philips Inlet. About an hour after we were settled, three more powerboats came in to seek refuge. One was a Nordhavn 40 named Chinook. It was a man named Klaus and Eric said he is famous for knowing this area and that we had met him once before. Klaus told us much about the passage from here to Juneau and Eric took notes. Then we went to Linda and John's for fajitas and had a great time. Bear was a gem.

June 6 - Khuntze Inlet and our first Grizzly bear sighting. Dropped crab trap and shrimp trap, but got nothing. Seabird came in to see the waterfalls but continued North. The snow line keeps creeping down the mountains around us. Over a dozen otters prowled the shoreline and splashed tremendously while fishing. Three other boats in the anchoraged - one 200' yacht with a helicopter - name was Senses. Grizzly bear was up the river where we took the dinghy. When we were close to shore - and the bear - we ran out of gas!! We paddled back to Oso, a bit nervously. Read full account on Khutze Inlet page. Eric thinks this may be the most beautiful place he has ever been!

June 7 - Bishop Bay Hot Springs - a MUST stop! Read full account here. Very deep, making anchoring somewhat difficult. The wood dock is sturdy but only 50 feet long. Very clean and water was great! Cloudy with rain and sun today. After we soaked, we moved on to Coughlin Anchorage where another Nordhavn 64, Clairbuoyant, was already settled for the night. We briefly met Claire, Tim and their dog, Humphrey and made plans to buddy boat the next day.

June 8 - Another rainy day. Cruised up to Baker Inlet. The entrance was very narrow and made Eric nervous! The book said to honk your horn as you enter as the channel is only one boat width wide. Channel is very deep. Upon entering the inlet, we spotted a black bear on shore. The books had said this was a good spot to see bears and hear wolves. We anchored at the head of the inlet, put out our crab and shrimp traps and ventured ashore. We walked along an old logging road, saw lots of scat and sang loudly to scare the bears away. Clairbuoyant is here too. They invited Bear to their boat to visit with their 12 year old yellow Lab dog, Humphrey, who Bears loves. Claire and Tim are from Bear, DE. It's Father's Day - Bear gave Eric a back massage and made him a card with lots of photos in it. We also made blueberry muffins this morning. (Two days later we learned that it was NOT Father's Day. Eric got to stop being mad at his girls for not calling and we get to celebrate again next weekend!)

June 9 - Came into Prince Rupert this afternoon. All marinas were full so we anchored across the bay and took the dinghy to town. While there we noticed a spot on a commercial dock that had another pleasure boat (who arrived just after us) tied there. So I found the boss man and sweet-talked our way onto that dock, which was right in town. Within the hour, we were tied and having dinner at a restaurant in town. It was a good move. We stayed two nights. Prince Rupert was a nice, little tourist town. Many, many eagles - Bear counted 21 of them circling one afternoon. One eagle graciously let us watch him feed up close by sitting on the railing outside our pilot house window one evening. These eagles are used to people. Bear and I went to the Native Museum, the park and walked around town while Eric did boat jobs. (Our dryer is giving us problems.) I finally got to run again and ran for over an hour! It felt so good!

June 11 - We made the direct hop up to Ketchikan, Alaska today. Back in the USA, with an hour time change (backward). Our marina is about 1.5 miles out of town so we haven't been down there yet. Clairbuoyant and Seabird are both with us. The passage was very easy.

June 12 - Ketchikan - very rainy day! Moved to the town docks. Much easier access to town - better place to be. Linda rented a car and loaned it to me for grocery shopping. Very helpful. Downtown is very touristy. The "red light district" is quaint. Just full of souvenir shops now. Eric went into "Dolly's house" and said it was pretty unremarkable for $5. He did learn where the name "condom" came from (ask him if you want to know). Other than that, not a remarkable day.

In Ketchikan there is an old "red light district". Back in the day, when there was a 7-to-1 men to women ratio there, brothels were thriving. The first one was Dolly. Dolly's house is still there and is now a museum (Eric paid to go through it but Bear and I wandered on!). Dolly was quite the entrepreneur. She bought her house in 1919 for $800. She wanted to pay it off quickly so she went to work. She charged 50 cents for a shot of whiskey, 50 cents if your feet were muddy and $3 for "her services". She paid off her house in two weeks! She was the last brothel to be shut down and when given two weeks notice, she had a "going out of business sale". She put two-for-one coupons in the local paper and a 20% discount coupon. She was 72 years old when she stopped her "practice" and she had a boyfriend for 20 years too. She was said to be 5'10" tall and 200 pounds. She could take care of herself. Quite the story, eh?! I learned all this on the duck boat tour. It went over Bear's head. His favorite part was when they let him drive the boat on the water.

June 13 - Bear and I took a "duck" tour of the town. It was very interesting. We learned alot more about the town and the fishing industry here. Bear got to drive the duck when we were on the water. We met a couple of ladies from Iowa who were on one of the cruise ships. Bear and I also visited the Discovery Center and really enjoyed the scavenger hunt and talking with the rangers. We learned that salmon are on a 4-7 year cycle and that in 2004 there was a drought that hampered the spawning that year. As a consequence, the salmon this year will be minimal. The ranger said this would make sight-seeing grizzlies more dangerous as they will be hungry. Hmmmm.....

June 14 - We stopped Meyers Chuck and found a spot on the small "town" dock for the night. Another Nordhavn (Chinook, a 40) was docked here. Klaus, from Chinook, seems to have alot of experience in the Inside Passage and loves to stop here. Bear and I walked up to the "town", which only consists of a few houses, an art gallery and a mailbox. Near the "school" (it was built as a school but the population of 30 cannot support is and it is now a private residence), some people invited to play volleyball. So we did and had a great time - until the no see-ums got so bad we had to quit. Then the three of us walked a path through a spectacular forest to a beach filled with driftwood logs. This is quite the place for not being much!

June 16 -The sun is actually out!! Although we did have some "liquid sunshine" (as they like to refer to it here) in spurts today. No wind though so it's very pleasant out. We are in Wrangler, AK, about 140 miles from Juneau. It's a nice little town. There is a cool totem pole park with an Indian "house" on an island. On our way up today we stopped at the Anan Bear Observatory where Deb had had a close encounter with a bear when they were there. But we didn't see any. They had a boardwalk through the woods , which was a very pretty walk, to an overlook area. The overlook was over the waterfalls of a river where the salmon run upstream and the bears come to catch fish. The salmon aren't running yet, so no bears. Oh well. We also told Bear to make lots of noise so we don't surprise any bears. Well, as you know, that's not too hard for him! So there was no way the bears didn't hear us coming. We did see lots and lots of scat on the boardwalk so we knew they were around. Hopefully we'll see them somewhere else along the way.

We took a jetboat tour up Le Compte bay to see a glacier and learn about icebergs, etc. It was pretty cool. The harbor seals go up there this time of year to have their pups on the floating ice bergs. They are safe from whales there but have to watch out for eagles stealing the pups when they
are very young. They stay there for a month, don't eat anything, let the pups nurse and get strong, then leave as soon as the pups are big enough. I bet there were over a hundred of them up there on the floating ice. Pretty cool thing to see. We couldn't get that close to the glacier because there
was so much ice floating we couldn't push through anymore. It was slow going as it was. We could see the glacier about five miles away. Through binoculars you could tell it is mighty but it will be good to get closer to some up near Juneau to get the real effect.

June 20 - Tracy Arm - welcomed by a whale, eagles on icebergs and about nine other boats in the anchorage - absolutely gorgeous evening we even ate outside in the cockpit. As we went to bed, the tidal current changed and the few icebergs in the bay began to move our way. That was a first - going to bed worried about being hit by an iceberg! Today was Eric's mom's 80th birthday.

June 21 - Another rainy day as we cruised into Juneau. We got out and walked around town anyway. You can't wait for a nice day to do things here or you'd never do anything. They say it rains 265 days a year here. The town is nice. We had a beer in one of the old, old mining saloons. A tourist trap but quaint. We got all the local info and made some event plans. Summer solstice today - the longer day of the year. I wonder what time the sun will set tonight?

June 24 - Tracy Arm - took big boat all the way up to the glacier - calved three times

June 25 - Windfall Harbor and Pack Creek Observatory - Christine the Forest Ranger - two grizzlies - three crabs in trap